Homeschooling with Joy (Even When It’s Hard)

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I’m so thankful you are joining me in this series on homeschool prayer! You can learn more about the series here. We’ll pray about a new area of our homeschool journey each week and dig into God’s Word with daily devotional reflections. Today we’re talking about homeschooling with joy – find this week’s free printable at the end of this post.

Here’s the scene: you’ve spent hours putting together a new unit study you will be teaching your kids. Gathered all of the materials, hand-picked activities they will love, and are ready to go. You wake up that morning, energized because you love teaching your kids and you can’t wait to get started!

Your kids come downstairs, bright-eyed and eager to learn. The morning goes smoothly – everyone gets along, stays on track with the lesson, and complete their work early. Everything runs just as you had planned, and you couldn’t be happier.

Sound familiar? Yeah…me either.

The truth is, most days this story couldn’t be further from the truth. Rarely does anything go exactly as we plan it, and as much as I resolve to remain calm and collected during our homeschool day, sometimes I barely make it 5 minutes before I am tested.

Trials will happen in our homeschooling (probably regularly!). Balancing life and homeschooling, sibling relationships, keeping homeschool records, dealing with toddlers, struggling learners, self-doubt…I could go on. We experience it all.

Homeschooling isn’t always fun, but we can keep our joy through even the trials.

Homeschooling with joy (even on the hard days)

Typical Advice for Hard Days

Ask a friend or look up support online, and you’ll get the standard answers for how to “reset” after a long homeschooling day or week.

You’ll hear to “take a break from school for a day”, or “make sure you focus on self-care”. Exercise, spend time on a hobby. Zone out with a favorite show.

There’s nothing wrong with this advice. They all certainly provide a temporary means of escape, a chance to regroup, and sometimes you need that.

Until the next trial comes. Or the next sibling fight breaks out, or the next child refuses to do any more work that day.

God can certainly work through the temporary fixes. But if we only fill our bucket with things from this world and our own efforts, we will always be lacking when the next hard day comes.

Instead, if we fix our eyes on Christ and draw on His love and strength, we will realize a deeper joy that lasts, even through the hard days when we want to give up.

Homeschooling with Joy During Trials

It’s easy to make the choice to be joyful when things are going our way; it’s a bit harder when the curriculum is failing us or the kids aren’t getting along.

One thing that I remind myself is that trials are necessary to test our faith, and that they can be opportunities meant for our good and God’s glory.

Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
Romans 5:3-5

Don’t we often tell the same things to our kids? Struggle is necessary for growth. Although we wish we could take the hard parts of our kids’ lives away, without them, they wouldn’t learn. But we can always be with them, and root for them.

Our Heavenly Father promises to do the same for us. He will never leave us nor forsake us, but He will allow us to struggle, for everything not to be perfect and go our way, for our own good and growth.

Keeping a Joyful Mindset

Because of this, we can be joyful. In fact, 1 Thessalonians 5:16 tells us to be joyful always.

Note that it doesn’t tell us to “always be happy”. Joy doesn’t equal happiness; rather, it requires us to change our mindset and keep an eternal perspective on our circumstances. Being joyful always requires us to take the opportunities God gives us to lean on Him, learn what He wants us to learn, and grow.

The other important thing to remember is that joy is a fruit of the spirit. So we increase in joy when we increase our connection to the vine; when we allow God to restore us, we will experience a joy that we can’t find anywhere else. The more we fill ourselves with Christ and open ourselves to the Holy Spirit’s guidance and help, the more fruitful we will be.

So, it’s true that we will experience tough days as homeschool moms. And as much as we cherish all of our moments with our kids, homeschooling will not always be enjoyable — homeschooling is hard! But Jesus is the source of our joy – even in all of our trials! We can always trust His plan and purpose.

joy in the journey t-shirt
One of my favorite tees from Homeschool Style Co. – Joy in the Journey!

Our happiness in homeschooling will never be constant, but with the help of the Holy Spirit, our joy can shine as a result of the happiness we have in focusing on the goodness and promises of our Heavenly Father.


Prayer for this Week

Heavenly Father,

You are amazing, Lord! I praise you and thank you for your gift of joy during the trials in my life. I know that you are always working for my good and your glory, shaping me to reflect you more.

I am sorry for the times I complain about small inconveniences and trials in our homeschool. Forgive me for any bitterness or anger that I have turned to in these circumstances. Work in me that this is not my automatic response to trials; you are gracious in giving me these opportunities to worship you, depend on you, and transform my heart.

You never promised homeschooling would be easy, but you promise you will always be with me. Thank you for providing me everything I need to be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

I pray that through the power of the Holy Spirit I will consider all my trials as joy, knowing that the testing of my faith produces perseverance, character, and hope. May I keep my eyes on you and trust in your goodness.

In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen

This Week’s Printable

Each week, I put together a short devotional you can print out with prompts and reflective questions to help keep you in the Word daily. There’s also a sheet with the weekly prayer on it you can print and hang in your homeschool room.

It’s my hope that this printable helps serve as a reminder to be in God’s Word each day, praying and seeking His will for your life and homeschool.

Join the Challenge!

Finally, if you want to join in on the challenge from the very beginning, make sure to sign up below, and get a copy of my Printable Devotional Pages sent to your inbox. Join in any time, and you’ll start the following Monday with Week #1!

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I would love to hear from you in the comments: when do you find it most challenging to “be joyful always”? How do you keep an eternal perspective during these trials?

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One Comment

  1. I am definitely bookmarking this post for when we begin our homeschooling journey next year! Such great advice and encouragement! Thank you <3

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